I apologize that it's taken this long for me to get the motivation to write another chapter. I've been very de-motivated lately, but I'm back and I'm trying to figure some stuff out for this story. It won't be a long one, and I have an idea for another one already, but I want to finish this off first. I hope you like it.
Rolling over, Saraya awoke early, noticing the time on the clock to say 6:45am. Normally she didn't wake this early, but then again she didn't find herself asleep on her best friends sofa. Needless to say, Phil wasn't here, either. He was nowhere to be seen, but she could hear shuffling coming from the kitchen, so she stood upright, stretched a little, and made her way through the dimly lit house.
"You're awake?" Were the first words that left Phil's mouth. He was surprised, because Saraya was known for being a notorious sleeper. She could fall asleep whenever she needed to, wherever she needed to, and she could be out for hours. Her last day off had been spent completely in bed, regardless of any friends offer to go out.
"Well, good morning to you too, insomniac." She retorted, making her way past him to make some coffee, purely out of instinct.
"Somebody's grouchy. Not used to being awake so early?" He asked, mocking her in a way, though he knew it probably wasn't the best idea so early on in the morning.
"I wouldn't." She warned, shooting him a glare as she poured a mug of coffee, before hopping up onto the kitchen bench to drink it. "Did you even sleep at all last night?"
Phil just shrugged, never bothered about the amount of sleep he got. He was used to being awake all the time, used to not needing much rest to get him through the day. He didn't get a lot of energy through the day, but he managed with what he got. He never was a big sleeper anyway.
"You should really see someone about that. It can't be healthy, especially not with what we do every day." She commented, knowing he probably got this from people all the time, but she couldn't help it. Caring about him was part of being his friend, regardless of if he liked it or not.
He simply raised his eyebrows, and looked over at her. "Since when did you care so much about my sleeping pattern?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest, leaning back against the opposing kitchen bench.
"I'm just showing some concern in my friends life, sue me." She shrugged, before hopping off the bench again, taking a few last sips of her coffee and running a hand through her hair. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go abuse the use of your shower." She grinned, and disappeared out of the room, and through to the bathroom.
Phil only laughed a little, and washed her used coffee mug. Truth be told, he kind of enjoyed that she cared about him. He'd never admit to that, but he liked knowing that she got concerned over his health. Not many people really did because of how stubborn he got about his health and well being, and she didn't tend to give a crap about many people. So, it was kind of a perfect situation, in a weird way.
Regardless, he didn't really think too much of it. He knew it wasn't a big deal in her mind, so why should it be to him? Shaking his head, he wandered through the house, mindlessly tidying up after the night before, adjusting the room slightly, before he then disappeared into his own bedroom to change his clothes. They had a few things to do before they got to work later, so he wanted to be on top of things.
Saraya was busy at the Training Center when she was approached by Danielle, otherwise known as Summer Rae. The two girls had oddly become rather close, despite being so different and having such heat in the ring. Saraya really appreciated having such a good friend in this business, especially a girl, because sometimes she knew that the Divas got very bitchy and turned on one another, she didn't have time for that.
"So, I heard you and Phil went home together?" She noted, raising her eyebrows a little. Saraya only sighed, man news traveled fast around here. It was like there were tiny little spies everywhere, watching her every move.
"Yeah, I went back to his for a Freddy marathon." The Brit said, shrugging her shoulders. Her friendship with the RAW Superstar was no secret, everybody knew they were close. It just annoyed her when her friends made a big deal about it.
"Anything happen?" Danielle pushed, the smirk on her face suggesting things that Saraya could only turn her nose up at.
"Like what, Dani?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrows. "Are you asking if I slept with my best friend? Because if you are, the answer is no."
"Come on, Ray. Everyone knows you two are meant to be together. It's hardly a secret that you like each other. It's just a case of when you'll admit it to yourselves." She said, shaking her head and walking away.
Saraya could barely believe what she'd just heard. For one, people thought that she liked Phil, that she was supposed to be dating him. But, the other thing was that people thought Phil liked her too. That's what really threw her off. She could see why people would assume she'd like him. He was good looking, talented, exactly the sort of guy she'd go for, and he was always great with her. But why on earth would he want to be with her? For one the age gap was a massive turn-off for guys, she found it difficult to date, but that's mostly because she didn't try to.
She was too thrown off to think about anything else, so she left the center, still with a confused expression on her face. She didn't know what to think anymore. Did Phil know about all of this? Did he know that people thought this? She needed to talk to him, to figure this all out.
Phil was busy lacing up his boots in the locker-room when Saraya came bursting into the room. He shot onto his feet quicker than he'd of expected, but she'd given him a fright. "Raya? What the hell, you almost gave me a heart attack." He exhaled, sitting back down again, returning to the task at hand.
"Yeah, well I almost had a heart attack earlier today." She said, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Did you know that people think we're together?"
He'd not been expecting that. Ignoring his boots, he looked up at her, resting his arms on his legs. "Yeah, I knew." He said simply, barely looking phased, which almost annoyed her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She exclaimed, throwing her arms out to either side with a look of exasperation on her face.
Phil couldn't help it, her reaction was amusing, he ended up laughing at her a little bit. Of course, that didn't go down to well, and only ended with him getting a good punch to his upper arm. "Ouch. Jeez, calm down." He said, standing up in front of her. "Why do you care what people think?" He asked, throwing her off completely.
"I... I don't, I just didn't realize that's how people saw us." She said, shrugging her shoulders, embarrassed by her outburst.
"Who finally decided to tell you, then?" He asked, shaking his head as he brought his boot up onto the bench and finally finished lacing it up, before standing upright again, waiting on her response.
"Danielle. She assumed that because I was at your place last night that we'd... you know." She shrugged a little, averting her eyes. Saraya never realized how awkward that sort of thing was to discuss with him, mostly because she'd never done it before. She simply hadn't had time, it wasn't on her to-do list because it wasn't a big deal to her. Her career was always more important than getting a boyfriend having those firsts. But realizing she never had, and that people assumed she had with her best friend was a little embarrassing for her.
"They can assume what they like." He said, shrugging and giving her a reassuring smile. "We know the truth, and that's all that matters, right?" Phil always seemed to know how to calm her down. No wonder people thought they were together, they were closer than most people in this company.
"Right." She nodded, ashamed of the way she'd stormed in here, annoyed at herself for letting Danielle's words get to her. "I shouldn't listen to Dani, anyways. She doesn't really get it."
Nodding his head, Phil laughed, and stepped past her to grab his Best in the World hoodie, ready for the night ahead. Tonight was a simple houseshow, so he wouldn't be doing too much, but he did have a match against Shield member, Roman Reigns, which would prove to be a task and a half. He couldn't afford too many distractions right now.
"Don't listen to people, Raya. They don't know what they're talking about." He said, used to this sort of thing. People always assumed he was dating the first girl they spotted him with. Hell, he'd had a lot of this when he went through his storyline with AJ. But it was never true, and besides, he liked keeping his personal life to himself. It wasn't anybody elses business anyway.
"You're right. Sorry. I'll see you later." She said, letting herself out of his changing room, and shutting the door behind her. She felt like an idiot, but she was pleased that it was Phil. After all, he always knew how to calm her down, how to shut out any irrational thoughts she had, and he didn't judge her for thinking that way in the first place.
Maybe dating him wouldn't be so bad. But then again, that wasn't the point. He was her best friend, it wouldn't be right. Would it?
Taking a spear from Roman Reigns was always a difficult job. He didn't let up, it was nothing but pure force from this one particular competitor, and that was something that Phil respected a lot. After the match ended, he waited backstage to shake the mans hand. He always found doing that very important, to show respect in this business was a big deal. After shaking hands with all three Shield members, Phil made his way back to the locker-room, where he was soon greeted by Kofi, again.
"If you're here to talk about Saraya again, I'm not interested." He started, holding up a hand as he grabbed a towel.
"Calm down, man." Kofi laughed, holding his hands up in front of him. "I was just going to ask if you were busy later."
"I don't know, depends on what you're doing." The one thing about Phil was that he didn't beat around the bush. He wouldn't lie to get out of doing something, he'd simply say that he didn't want to do it, if that was the case. Some people respected it, others really didn't like it. But, that was part of his nature.
"Just some dinner, Mike knows a place not far from here. There's a big group going, bring Saraya if she's not busy." He suggested, and Phil shrugged a little.
"Maybe. I'll talk to her, and we'll find you." He said, before then disappearing off into the showers.
Whilst in there, he had some time to think. Ever since Saraya had brought everything up earlier, he wondered if there was really some substance to everyone seeing them as a couple. Was it really that blindingly obvious? Phil didn't see it, really. He saw her as a great friend, someone he could trust - which he knew was a rarity in this business. So many people would step over you to get to the top, but he knew Saraya wasn't that sort of person, and he knew that he could talk to her about whatever he liked - even if he wasn't big on opening up. It was odd, but maybe Kofi and everyone else had a point when they mentioned it all.
Shaking off the thought, he turned off the shower and proceeded to get changed. He had to find her now, and find out if she wanted to go for food with everyone else. He didn't know how he felt about a dozen eyes watching them, judging them, knowing they'd be gossiping about it the second they left.